Turns out that the houses were built from waste material from the local cobalt mine that still had excessive residual radiation.
Why am I not surprised by that?
I don’t think our parents even knew the dangers of being Downwinders. I think only select government officials knew, and the school board was only given enough information to distribute the iodine tablets. (They were truly nasty things, too, and tasted nothing like chocolate.)
The “nurses” that were there to oversee the distribution looked stern and formidable. I doubt they were County Health Nurses. Most likely, Feds.